Conveyors systems

ABSTRACT

A comb for a conveyor which has a longitudinally grooved load carrying surface. The comb being constructed from a series of rigid teeth resiliently mounted on a rigid transverse support so that the resilient mounting allows the teeth to move to accommodate transverse movement of the conveyor within its guides.

Mailed States Patent Jenkins et al.

(IUNVEYURS SYSTEMS Peter J. Jenkins, Sandback; William C. Neller, Frodsham, both of England Inventors:

Assignee: Dunlap Holdings Limited, London, En-

gland Filed: .luly 28, 1970 Appl. No.: 58,913

Foreign Application Priority Data Aug. 9, 1969 Great Britain ..39,5l 1/69 US. Cl. .;...l98l16 R int. Cl ..B66b 9/12 Field ofSearch ..198/l6, l7, 18; 104/25;

[151 mnnmi Feb. 0, i972 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,315,777 4/1967 Margles .198/16 l,ll2,836 l0/l9l4 Reno .198/16 2,109,210 2/1938 Dunlop ..l98/l6 Pn'mary ExaminerEvon C. Blunk Assistant Examiner-Alfred N. Goodman Attorney-Stevens, Davis, Miller & Mosher [57] ABSTRACT A comb for a conveyor which has a longitudinally grooved load carrying surface. The comb being constructed from a series of rigid teeth resiliently mounted on a rigid transverse support so that the resilient mounting allows the teeth to move to accommodate transverse movement of the conveyor within its guides.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENIEU FEB 8 I972 FIG.4

This invention relates to combs for engagement with the surface treads of conveyors of the longitudinally grooved type. Conveyors of this type may be in the form of a continuous belt or a series of interlinked platforms and may be used for transport on the level or inclined, when the interlinked platform type is commonly known as an escalator. Combs are provided at both ends of the conveyor to allow safe loading and unloading of goods or passengers.

Such conveyor devices are subject to some transverse displacement due to clearance in the side guidance of the platforms surface. Movements up to Ainch of either side of the nominal belt path must be accommodated and combs have been proposed mounted on bearings to allow this transverse movement.

An object of this invention is to provide a simpler and cheaper method of allowing for transverse displacement of the grooves.

According to one aspect of the invention, a comb for a longitudinally grooved conveyor of the continuous belt or multiplatforrn type, comprises a rigid transverse support member and a plurality of rigid tooth members resiliently mounted on the said support member to allow the tooth members to move to accommodate conveyor movement in the direction trans verse to the longitudinal direction of conveyor.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a comb in which the resiliently mounted tooth members are detachably mounted.

According to yet another aspect of the invention there is provided a comb with resilient tooth members wherein the comb assembly is pivotally mounted such that obstructing matter on the conveyor raises the comb and actuates a switch to stop the conveyor.

Some embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only in conjunction with the accompanying diagrammatic drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of two comb teeth mounted on a support member above a grooved conveyor;

FIG. 2 shows a detail view of an alternative mounting arrangement;

FIG. 3 shows a further mounting arrangement;

FIG. 4 shows a detachable comb tooth.

In the drawings, FIG. I shows a pair of metal comb tooth members I, 2, mounted on a steel transverse support member 3.

Each tooth member is of generally rectangular form with a chamfered leading edge 4 which leads from the comb point to a position 6 about one third of the way along the top surface of the tooth member. The other end of the tooth member is provided with a closed rectangular slot 7.

The transverse support member 3 comprises a rectangular section bar of steel which fits through the rectangular slot 7 in each tooth member. A clearance is provided between the vertical sides of the transverse support member 3 and the slot 7 and rubber spacers 8 and 9 are fitted therethrough.

lntertooth spacing is achieved by rubber spacer blocks 10 between adjacent tooth members.

The transverse support member 3 is mounted across the conveyor by means of a pivotal mount 11 provided at each end of the support member 3. Comb teeth 1 and spacer blocks 10 are then fitted in turn over the support member 3 to form a comb assembly with teeth members 1, 2, spaced to suit the conveyor. The rubber spacers 8 and 9 are inserted to provide location of the tooth members.

In use the points of the tooth members are positioned in the grooves of the conveyor as illustrated in FIG. I and are set to be within about one-sixteenth of the base of each groove. The rubber spacers and spacer blocks allow the teeth to swing transversely across the conveyor clearance of the guides is thus accommodated.

In the event of an obstruction in the conveyor groove foulling the tooth, without being lifted clear, the complete comb assembly pivots about the pivotal mount 11 and an extension arm 1 provided on the support member 3 contacts a microswitch 13 and this stops the conveyor.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 a clearance 14 is provided between the upper surface of the support member 3 and the slot. This clearance allows some vertical movement of the comb tooth before it pivots the support bar and switches off the conveyor. The clearance is arranged so that this movement is not sufiicient to allow'the comb tooth point 5 to be above the tip of the grooves in the conveyor surfaces without opening the microswitch 13.

A further method of allowing some vertical movement of the tooth members is shown in FIG. 3. The assembly is greatly similar to FiG. 2 except that a soft rubber spacer I5 is fitted into the space between the top surface of the support member and the slot. Alternatively a rubber spacer may be placed below the support member or two spacers one above and one below the support member.

One important advantage of a conveyor comb of this type is that individual tooth members may be replaced when damaged by simply sliding the tooth members off the support member and reassembling with undamaged tooth members. Tooth member changes may be further facilitated by means of tooth members as shown in FIG. 4. An open ended slot 16 is machined into the rear face 17 of the tooth member of dimensions to accommodate the support member and any associated rubber spacers 8, 9, and/or 15. The tooth member is retained on the support member by a bolt 18 in screw threaded engagement with the lower portion 19 of the tooth member forming the slot and passing through the upper portion 20. This arrangement allows single tooth members to be easily and rapidly replaced.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is:

l. A comb for a longitudinally grooved conveyor comprising a plurality of tooth members, a rectangular aperture formed in each tooth member, a plurality of resilient first spacer members provided each with a similar rectangular aperture, a rigid support member extending through said apertures and smaller in one direction than the apertures to define at least one clearance, first spacer members interspaced between the said tooth members, and a second spacer member extending through the said apertures to take up said clearance between the apertures and the support member such that resilient mounting of the tooth members is achieved.

2. A comb as in claim 1 wherein the apertures defined by the tooth members are in the form of slots into the tooth member and closure means are provided by a bolt in screw threaded engagement across the end of the slot to retain the tooth member on the support member.

3. A comb as in claim 2 wherein a further clearance is provided between the upper face of the support member and the top face of the apertures to allow limited vertical movement of the tooth members.

4. A comb as in claim 2 wherein a further clearance is provided between the upper face of the support member and the top face of the apertures and a resilient spacer member is provided in the said clearance to allow limited resilient movement of the tooth members in a vertical direction. 

1. A comb for a longitudinally grooved conveyor comprising a plurality of tooth members, a rectangular aperture formed in each tooth member, a plurality of resilient first spacer members provided each with a similar rectangular aperture, a rigid support member extending through said apertures and smaller in one direction than the apertures to define at least one clearance first spacer members interspaced between the said tooth members, and a second spacer member extending through the said apertures to take up said clearance between the apertures and the support member such that resilient mounting of the tooth members is achieved.
 2. A comb as in claim 1 wherein the apertures defined by the tooth members are in the form of slots into the tooth member and closure means are provided by a bolt in screw threaded engagement across the end of the slot to retain the tooth member on the support member.
 3. A comb as in claim 2 wherein a further clearance is provided between the upper face of the support member and the top face of the apertures to allow limited vertical movement of the tooth members.
 4. A comb as in claim 2 wherein a further clearance is provided between the upper face of the support member and the top face of the apertures and a resilient spacer member is provided in the said clearance to allow limited resilient movement of the tooth members in a vertical direction. 